The D.C. Superior Court's chief judge has issued bench warrants for almost 100 people who failed to show up for jury duty, and did not appear before him to explain why.
Judge Rufus King the Third says jury duty is not voluntary, but a mandatory civic responsibility.
Most jurors describe what they do as a civic duty, but not all held jury duty in the highest esteem.
"A lot of people [get] called repeatedly and they get tired of it," said juror Steven Weingardner."I think the whole system is not fair."
In fact, it seems a list of potential jurors were not only no-shows, but ignored a second summons to come and explain why. Chief Judge Rufus King said he's going back to what he's done before: U.S. Marshals will be rounding them up.
"We have a number of people locked up [and] brought into the courthouse in handcuffs," Judge Rufus said.
The bench warrants issued Wednesday mean the people named in them can be arrested. Penalties for failure to appear for jury duty includes fines up to $300 or up to seven days in jail.
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